1. Field of the Invention
This specification relates to a mobile terminal having a camera allowing for omnidirectional capturing.
2. Background of the Invention
Terminals may be divided into mobile/portable terminals and stationary terminals according to their mobility. Also, the mobile terminals may be classified into handheld terminals and vehicle mount terminals according to whether or not a user can directly carry.
Mobile terminals have become increasingly more functional. Examples of such functions include data and voice communications, capturing images and video via a camera, recording audio, playing music files via a speaker system, and displaying images and video on a display. Some mobile terminals include additional functionality which supports game playing, while other terminals are configured as multimedia players. More recently, mobile terminals have been configured to receive broadcast and multicast signals which permit viewing of content such as videos and television programs.
As it becomes multifunctional, a mobile terminal can be allowed to capture still images or moving images, play music or video files, play games, receive broadcast and the like, so as to be implemented as an integrated multimedia player.
Efforts are ongoing to support and increase the functionality of mobile terminals. Such efforts include software and hardware improvements, as well as changes and improvements in the structural components.
Meanwhile, in order to obtain a photo or an image in which every surrounding is recorded by one-shot image capture, a user should inconveniently take such photo or image by turning centering on one point. In this instance, when using a camera with a wide field of view (FOV) in a panorama mode, a process of merging images captured by at least two optical systems, respectively, into one image is carried out. As one example, when a camera (optical system) for capturing a front side and a camera (optical system) for capturing a rear side are provided at front and rear surfaces of the mobile terminal, respectively, an image obtained by the front camera and an image obtained by the rear camera should be merged to obtain an image similar to an image obtained by 360° capturing.
If such front and rear images are simply connected and merged, shadows are generated at both ends of the merged image or an image loss may be caused during image alignment.
Therefore, there is a requirement for a mobile terminal having cameras (optical systems) capable of omnidirectionally capturing images, without causing an image loss during image merging.